Women earn on average 20% less than men

It’s a commonly held belief that the national gender pay gap is largely driven by gender-based variation in career choices, and that more high profile discrepancies in the world of media and sport are due to institutionally entrenched biases that are soon to be left behind us. However, based on 2,000+ data points from ex-consultants and those in similar professions, the gender pay gap pervades even professional service industries.

What is particularly galling is that the differences are stark even at the most junior levels – this is not a legacy issue reflected by fewer women higher up in organisations, but instead suggests that a deeper unconscious bias is affecting pay decisions across the board.

The difference is marked for bonus percentages, pay raises and total compensation packages, and is present in varying degrees across all seniorities, from those in the first few years of their career through to those at Director level.

At the extreme, men at associate level (approx 4 years into their career) receive bonuses nearly 2.5 times the size of those received by women at the same level and have total compensation packages around a third higher than their female counterparts.